Well, dear readers, I had just the sort of day off I needed. I slept eleven hours and then I relaxed. That said, I actually got a lot of stuff done whilst relaxing, including prepping the eBlast announcement for this morning and figuring out the first pass show order for the June Kritzerland show. So before further ado, the two new Kritzerland releases being announced at six this morning are – No Down Payment/The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker, a two-fer on one CD by the remarkable Mr. Leigh Harline. Wonderful music indeed. Here’s the cover.
Our second release is by one of my favorite composers, and a good pal of mine, Mr. David Shire – his tuneful and delightful score to the 1981 comedy, Paternity. It’s just infectious music at its best and includes a fun song called Baby Talk by Shire and Dave Frishberg, who sings it. Here’s that cover.
So, two wonderful world premiere film music limited editions for your mental delectation. Listen to the audio samples and you’ll probably be hooked.
During my relaxation and doing things I got the final version of an upcoming release – I’d asked for a couple of little minor fixes. Now, you’ll recall how once upon a time A Place in the Sun could never have had a hope of a release until our wonderful audio restoration man, Chris Malone, made it possible – not only possible, but actually a fantastic release. Well, late last year I sent him something that, in certain ways, was even more problematic. He’s been very busy on other projects, but he finally go to it and the result is his usual astonishing brilliant work and now another classic score has been saved – this time for one of the most beloved and iconic films of all time. I have to seriously figure out how many we’re doing of it, because if I only do 1000 it will sell out in a couple of hours. We are so thrilled to be the ones who got this and you will be equally thrilled that you’ll finally be able to own it. In the film, the score was cut up and used as its director pleased, and some of the score wasn’t used at all. But we’ve got it as it was recorded and it sounds pretty great for something that had to be rescued from acetates, with only a couple of tracks having sound that is problematic – we’re of course including them because they’re listenable and part of the fabric of the score. I’m diving into the packaging this week, and really hope this can be our next release – if not, soon thereafter.
Then it was time to go see our very own Terri White at The Federal. I’d gotten a note that the house was very light and I managed to get some more people there. My party was four (including me) and we were at the front table. But the marvelous thing about The Federal is that through clever configuration, the room looks full no matter how light. Our sold out crowds fill the room with the configuration being all tables of six to eight people. This time they had two-tops and four-tops and only one six-top spread throughout the room. I’d guess there were about thirty-five people there, but they were a mighty crowd in terms of reaction. Terri was in great form, and while my taste in acts runs a little more toward more structure, it was fast-moving, fun, beautifully performed and a wonderful evening’s entertainment. At one point one of my table mates, the beautiful and extremely talented Kerry O’Malley, turned to me and said, “She can sing. She can act. She’s funny. What else is there?” The answer to the latter question is she plays bottles with spoons very well. Miss White is a force of nature and we all loved her.
After that, I came home and watched the latest episode of Mad Men, which I thought was one of the best of the entire series, mostly because it was a Peggy-centric episode – her scenes with Don contained some of the best writing of any episode. The rest of it was just as good. Next week is the mid-season finale – yes, then we all have to wait for next year to complete what should have been complete this year – thanks to AMC and their greed.
Today, I shall be up at six in the morning to announce our two new titles, after which I will hopefully get some more sleep, and also print out a LOT of orders. Once up, I shall have some lunch, then I shall mosey on over to LACC to check out some lighting and costume fixes, after which we’ll have our final dress rehearsal, this time full out with the band. We have a wonderful photographer with us, who’ll be taking lots of photographs. I will, of course, have a full report.
Tomorrow we have our one and only preview and I’m hoping we have a nice-sized crowd for it. Wednesday is our opening night, we play two shows on Thursday. Friday I have a work session for the Kritzerland show and then we have an evening Abner performance, and Saturday two shows, which ends this run. Then I have one day of rest, and we’re into the Kritzerland rehearsal week and a lot of other catch up for me.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, announce our new titles, print orders, eat, and then have our final dress rehearsal. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your five favorite films of all time, the ones you’ve returned to most often for the pleasure they bring you? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which we’re on our way to our final dress rehearsal after a relaxing Sunday.